So, the season is a day away and
I would guess there are still some twists and turns to come before the
closure of the transfer window.

There was not much surprise that with
Darren Bent being sold to Sunderland he would comment about his time at
Tottenham. Daniel Levy took some stick from both Bent and Steve
Bruce, but the fee he ended up getting for the striker (no doubt with
conditions to be met) was a pretty good one and my one worry was that
Harry was going to replace him with his wife Sandra (who, as we know, is
deadly from close range). However, in Crouch, we have an known
quantity to Redknapp and one who has linked well with Jermain Defoe
before. I think one of the problem last season was that although
we had four top strikers, there was no partnership there and while any
one of them was capable of making goals, there was no natural pairing
that created opportunities for each other. Hopefully, the long and
the short of it might do the business.

Of course, this leaves a conundrum
in what to do with the other two. Robbie Keane is captain and
therefore, you would expect that he would be a first pick, but with the
midfield now sorted and if Harry goes with Defoe and Crouch, Keano might
have to settle for a place on the bench ... something he wasn't that
happy about at Liverpool. Pav and Defoe linked up well in the
Olympiakos friendly and both scored in the midweek internationals, so
will harry be ready to go with the in-form strikers ?

Sebastien Bassong looked good when
he came into the side for the friendly without much chance to train with
the team, with his purchase not just for the present in covering for
Woodgate and Dawson, but no doubt with an eye to the longer term to take
over from Ledley at the back. He looks strong and good on the
ball, so will be a useful addition with last year's relegation with
Newcastle hopefully a blip on his career record.

I must say that I thought that
Kyle Naughton would be one of those to be filed under "one for the
future", but his showings in the pre-season matches he has played has
shown a youngster with a lot of talent in defence or midfield, so he
could be thrown straight into the mix. I am sure he will acquit
himself well, as he seems a very confident young man and I liked his
after-match interview with Jake Livermore after the Barcelona game at
Wembley. I look forward to seeing much more of his play on the
pitch this season.

Redknapp is probably about £15
million out of pocket on his transfer dealings this summer, so if he
wants more incoming players, he might have to sell. There are
plenty of players who I didn't think would still be at the club.
But some of them have shown a willingness to knuckle down and produce
some good football in pre-season. How they perform when the real
thing starts might determine whether they are valuable to Spurs on the
pitch or in the transfer market.

The preponderance of Spurs players
getting done for traffic related incidents is a worrying one.
Without the original offence, which Jermain Defoe is appealing against,
he would not now be taking action against Essex Police for wrongful
arrest and false imprisonment just before he flew off to China with the
squad for the Asia Trophy. While the players should be no
different to any other member of society, there is a bit the club could
do to stop this happening. For a long time, the number of Spurs
players appearing in court has been minimal and we need to return to
that level of misdemeanour. It is symptomatic that fast cars will
be used to their maximum by anyone who has one, but when you are high
profile, it needs to be laid on the line to the staff at the club that
it will not be accepted. Apart from the potentially tragic outcome
it might cause, there is the effect this has on their work. Come
on lads, dive carefully away from the ground and drive on to greater
things on the pitch.

The Asia Trophy was a bit of an
odd pre-season trip to get caught up in, but at least it brought two
decent performances and a trophy, however Robbie looked in collecting
it. Credit to those few Spurs fans who made it out there.

Odder was the game in Hong Kong
against South China, which nobody seemed too happy about. The
feinge players all got a game and Spurs lost 0-2. Not a great
advert for the club if this was meant to be a game to extend the brand
in the Far East.

People have been asking what I
expect from this season ... well, a better haul than two points from the
first eight games would be a start. After that, who knows.
There is no Europa League to get in the way, but then with a 22 man
squad of what could be first team regulars, it will be difficult to keep
them all happy. So, the target will be sixth place and good runs
in the domestic cups. With no reserve team, it will also mean that
some of the fringe players might have to settle for a series of friendly
matches against other reserves or teams from lower leagues.
Perhaps that is why so many players have gone out on loan, to get them
competitive football rather than the kicking they normally pick up in
reserve matches against youth team players from other clubs.

While the cost of football keeps
going up, the number of fans who have access to tickets diminishes and
although there is the new stadium to be built at some stage, the nature
of the Spurs crowd is not shaped to provide for future generations.
The lack of concessions in the East Stand for many years has meant many
fans have had to move behind the goals and then they are still
hard-pressed to afford to take kids with all the other add-ons a day at
football brings. If you did want to take a guest you have to
forego your own seat and move to another area of the ground. I
know it's not possible to fit people in where season ticket holders are
seated, but the fan-unfriendly nature of ticketing hardly endears the
club to it's fans. £25 for a meaningless friendly a week before
the season starts and in the school holidays was probably asking for a
1/3 empty ground and that was what happened. Many times MEHSTG and
a lot of other people have said drop the price a bit and fill the
ground, which would probably equal the same revenue and also give people
a taste for the WHL experience so that they might want to come back
again (ticket availability permitting).

Things are starting to get a bit
more interesting now. Liverpool on Sunday, then Hull City and West
Ham United next week, with Doncaster Rovers awaiting us in the League
Cup; I can't wait to get back into my normal seat at the Lane and enjoy
the football to come. But then again, this time next week, I could
be waiting the middle of May 2010 if it all goes wrong !!

Whatever happens on and off the
pitch ...

Keep the faith.

MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART LANE
MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART LANE
MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE CUPS AT WHITE HART LANE
AND THE SPURS GO MARCHING ON.